Elijah is taken up and Elisha succeeds him
2Kgs 2:1-12
This is what happened when the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in the whirlwind: Elijah and Elisha set out from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Please stay here, for the Lord is only sending me to Bethel’. But Elisha replied, ‘As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you!’ and they went down to Bethel. The brotherhood of prophets who live at Bethel came out to meet Elisha and said, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to carry your lord and master away today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ he said ‘be quiet.’ Elijah said, ‘Elisha, please stay here, the Lord is only sending me to Jericho’. But he replied, ‘As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you!’ and they went on to Jericho. The brotherhood of prophets who live at Jericho went up to Elisha and said, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to carry your lord and master away today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ he said ‘be quiet.’ Elijah said, ‘Elisha, please stay here, the Lord is only sending me to the Jordan’. But he replied, ‘As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you!’ And they went on together. Fifty of the brotherhood of prophets followed them, halting some distance away as the two of them stood beside the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water; and the water divided to left and right, and the two of them crossed over dry-shod. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Make your request. What can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ Elisha answered, ‘Let me inherit a double share of your spirit’. ‘Your request is a difficult one’ Elijah said. ‘If you see me while I am being taken from you, it shall be as you ask; if not, it will not be so.’ Now as they walked on, talking as they went, a chariot of fire appeared and horses of fire, coming between the two of them; and Elijah went up to heaven in the whirlwind. Elisha saw it, and shouted, ‘My father! My father! Chariot of Israel and its chargers!’ Then he lost sight of him, and taking hold of his clothes he tore them in half.
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